The Plague Dogs

Snitter:
Have you ever thought, Rowf... that we won't need food when we're dead? Or names for that matter... I wonder who the buzzards will like best... You, or me... I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start, old rip-beak!

[first lines]

Stephen Powell:
I think he's starting to pack it in.

Snitter:
Rowf. Rowf! Come back.

Rowf:
[half-conscious] Can't do it. I'll fight! I'll tear them white-coats... damn white-coats...

Snitter:
It's not the white-coats, Rowf. It's me - Snitter. Listen - the door's not a wall anymore.

Rowf:
I can't stand the water anymore. When I shut my eyes, the water comes back.

Snitter:
How do you get out? Do you drink it? Or does the sun dry it out? Or what?

Rowf:
I don't know. I hate it, Snitter. The water's terrible.

Snitter:
The wire's loose here, along the bottom. If I put my nose under it, I might be able to get through...

Rowf:
Why do they do it, Snitter? I'm not a bad dog.

Snitter:
I don't think they do it because they think you're bad.

Snitter:
They're not masters, Rowf. I had a master once, and I know. Whatever the White-coats are, they're not masters.

Rowf:
Something's been burnt in there. It's a death place. Bones, hair...

Snitter:
They must burn creatures in there, Rowf. [sniffing] Sheep... rain... I can smell it underneath the ashes.

Rowf:
In there? Smells come through the cracks. Dogs don't.

Snitter:
They've taken everything away! The houses and roads, cars, pavement, the lot! How did they do it, Rowf?

Rowf:
The white-coats must have changed it so they could do something or other to animals.

Snitter:
But my master never used to do anything to me...

Rowf:
I don't want to hear about your master.

Snitter:
When I was at home, my master...

Rowf:
Aren't you listening to me?

Snitter:
Masters are different, Rowf! You'll see what I mean when we've found one.

Rowf:
Supposing there aren't any masters left?

Snitter:
The flies in my head... they keep buzzing.

Snitter:
Rowf, if we don't find food soon, we'll die.

Rowf:
I'm not going to die. Not without a fight.

Snitter:
Who are you going to fight? There's no one here.

Rowf:
I'll fight this. But we have to change.

Snitter:
Change? Change to what?

Rowf:
To what we used to be. Real animals. Wild animals.

The Tod:
Where'd ye get that crack on the head, bonny lad?

Snitter:
The world was black and white... and then the truck came, and lightning shot down my head.

Rowf:
We're not about to die!

The Tod:
No? Why, hinny, ye've got no chance at all. I've bin watchin' ye the last two days, ye'll not last hollerin' yer heads off, racin' about the fell.

Snitter:
What do you mean? What are you saying?

The Tod:
Just a proposition, bonny lads. If ye'll hunt with me, I'll keep ye right, and ye'll have yer meath, we'll run through the night and follow me feet...

Rowf:
I don't understand a word he's saying.

Snitter:
He'll show us how to live out here if we let him share what we kill.

The Tod:
Aye, laddie, that's it. Why, ye'll have no bother with me, I'm a delicate eater. I don't aught but pick at me meat.

Rowf:
He'll cheat us and run away when it suits him. Bloody thief, that's what he is.

Snitter:
Well, we've nothing to lose. He's a sharp one, Rowf.

Rowf:
If you're still here when it's light, we'll decide what to do then.

The Tod:
Ah, now yer talkin' sense. Keep a tight hold of yer mate, and a good look over ye.

Rowf:
What do you call yourself?

The Tod:
I'm the Tod. Tod, ye know? Canniest Tod on Moss an' Moor.

Rowf:
What's happened to you?

Snitter:
What do you mean?

Rowf:
Your head...

Snitter:
It's just a hole. It's not that strange, not really. Holes.

The Tod:
The farmers are down in the valley, headin' this way, dogs all over the place. An' they've got guns!

Rowf:
How's going to end, running around these mountains?

Snitter:
We've got to go, Rowf, the Tod's right. We're wild animals now.

The Tod:
Are we goin' now, or do I go meself? And you'd best be sharp!

Rowf:
Maybe what they're doing to us is right. I'm a good dog, Snitter!

The Tod:
Ye're no dog at all, now. Ye're a sheep killer. They'll blast ye're arse out, hinny, no trouble! I tell you, we'd best be off or you'll both be dead or dying inside 'alf an hour!

Snitter:
Rowf, what are you doing here?

Rowf:
I've been searching for the past two days! What happened to you?

Snitter:
Didn't you hear it? I mean, when the air all blew to pieces? I know it's my fault, but I didn't do it on purpose!

Rowf:
What blew to pieces? What are you talking about?

Snitter:
We're dead, you and I. I've killed us both. I've destroyed everything.

Rowf:
Now, calm down and tell me everything.

Snitter:
I... was coming back, and all the grass and stones in my head were very loud. It felt of humming, like a strong wind. And I was on a road, like last time. He called me and smiled, and I went to him... and everything smashed to pieces. I smashed it like I did the other time! It all comes from me, Rowf! Out of my head... I killed that man like I killed my master! That's why we're here now, like this. We'll be punished, Rowf...

Rowf:
They can't do anything worse than they've done already...

Snitter:
Everything bad comes out of my head! Don't you see? Perhaps dying... even... dying doesn't stop it.

Rowf:
I don't understand what you're saying. As for dying, I'll fight before I'm killed!

Snitter:
They'll shoot you, Rowf, when they come with guns. The noise breaks the world to bits!

[Snitter, trapped in a garage, is hallucinating about his old home]

Rowf:
Snitter! Can you hear me?

Snitter:
I'm inside my head now. And it's where I should be.

Rowf:
This is no time for one of your turns!

The Tod:
Come on out, ya great fool! Sharp with ye, now, before we're all caught!

Snitter:
I can't come out. If I do, I'll go mad again.

The Tod:
Do ye know why we're still alive, with hundreds, maybe thousands of men that'd be glad ta kill us?

Snitter:
They wouldn't dare. I've only got to drown, or jump under a truck, and the sky will fall down and all the men will die. Have you ever thought of that, Rowf? That puts us one upon them!

Snitter:
Far off, Tod. Look...

The Tod:
That's the sea. Have ye never seen it before? Salt and the weeds. It's all water there.

Snitter:
If only I could have stayed inside my head this morning. I might have been able to decide how to get there. How to reach it...

[about the Tod]

Rowf:
We don't need him to help us, we never did.

Snitter:
He can't help what he is. Anyway, I admire him. He's... natural.

[seeing a helicopter]

Snitter:
The flies are out of my head... look... they've grown huge!

Rowf:
We've never been very good at being wild, have we?

Snitter:
We just started too late.

The Tod:
Whatever happens, don't stop. Remember, keep moving.

Soldier:
It's a fox, sir! They've got a bloody fox!

Snitter:
Look out there! It's our island. Don't you see it? That's where we have to go. We can be free.

Dr. Robert Boycott:
[on phone] Boycott, here. The Under-Secretary? Yes, of course I'll speak to him. Good afternoon, sir. It has been inconvenient, I've taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. [pause] Suspend work completely, sir? Couldnt' we... no of course not. I understand completely.

[last lines]

Snitter:
I can't swim anymore, Rowf...

Rowf:
We must... be near the island...

Snitter:
If... there is... any island, Rowf...

Rowf:
There is. There. Can't you see it? Our island...

Don:
[Rowf and Snitter chase some sheep, hoping the shepherd will adopt them. The sheepdogs confront them] What the hell thee art playin' at? Art thou stark bloody mad, or what?

Snitter:
We just need a master!

Don:
Just need a master? Of all the... Art thou out of thy minds? chasing yows up and down fell, snapping and biting? Where's thy farm at? Where's thy master? Thou's bit yon yow, too, thou bastard! It's bleeding!

Rowf:
Lay off! You don't own this place!

Don:
Don't own it? Then I'd like to know who bloody does! Hey, Wag! It says we don't own this here fell!

Wag:
Bloody cheek! What do you reckon they're up to then?

Rowf:
What are *you* up to, then?

Don:
Gatherin', you daft sod! Seeking wooled sheep, of course! And then thee comes down like bloody bulls and spoil half an hour's good work!

Wag:
Ah, they be tourists! Thee, with yon patch on the head. Where's thy master at? [Snitter doesn't answer him] Has he been hurt, and thee run away?

Snitter:
We haven't a master. We thought... maybe your master...

Don:
He'll fill thee with leads he will. Worrying sheep!

Snitter:
We were only doing the same as you!

Williamson:
[Don and Wag's master appears] Don! Come-by here! Yer Wag! Come-by here!

Rowf:
We'd better get out of here.

Snitter:
They belonged where they were. You could smell it. No Whitecoat does anything to them. But what are *we* going to do, Rowf?

[Rowf is eating a sheep he has just killed]

The Tod:
Have ye got no brains in yer head, yer great nit? As soon as me back's turned and you're bloody up and... could you not wait 'til I tell ya, ya great stupid...

Snitter:
What's the matter, Tod? What did he do?

The Tod:
What did he do? Kill out in the open, right on the shepherd's trod, clottin' the place up with blood? Do ye think 'e's blind? You're for it, hinny. Your arse will be inside out by mornin'. I'm not bidin' with you lot! Me, I'm goin'!

Snitter:
But, where are you going?

The Tod:
Oh, I'm just going to bark at the farmer's door! Maybe he'll let me shove me head up his gun! Save a lot o' bother, that will!

Snitter:
Tod! Tod, wait!

Rowf:
Let him go. Good riddance.

[uncut version only]

The Tod:
Us tods, we're used to runnin', 'til the dark comes, anyway.

Rowf:
The dark? What's the dark?

The Tod:
That's the place where you stop runnin' for good.